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Pelagibacter simultaneously produces the biogenic gases methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide from dimethylsulfoniopropionate, regulated by a kinetic switch that balances DMSP allocation between each pathway depending on cellular sulfur demands.
The translocation assembly module (TAM) of Escherichia coli functions together with the BAM complex to mediate the rapid assembly of usher proteins, the molecular platform important for the biogenesis of bacterial fimbriae.
Single-cell measurements of metabolic activities using NanoSIMS reveals that substrate limitation increases phenotypic heterogeneity in Klebsiella oxytoca metabolism, which allows cells to cope with nutrient fluctuations.
Bacteria enriched from surface and plume waters of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill show that the combined capabilities of community-wide hydrocarbon degradation is greater than its individual components.
Using a bacteriophage infection model that allows physical separation between growth and mutagenesis, this study provides support for the natural selection of random mutations as a basis for adaptation to stress.
Using Volta phase plate cryo-electron tomography, influenza virus haemagluttinin is shown to induce two independent pathways of viral membrane fusion, through lipidic junctions or through a fusion pore.
An update to the ‘tree of life’ has revealed a dominance of bacterial diversity in many ecosystems and extensive evolution in some branches of the tree. It also highlights how few organisms we have been able to cultivate for further investigation.
The fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum is shown to use a functional homologue of the plant regulatory peptide RALF (rapid alkalinization factor) to induce alkalinization and cause disease in plants.
A GWAS method that captures lineage-level associations even when locus-specific associations cannot be fine-mapped, detects genes and genetic variants underlying resistance to antimicrobials in M. tuberculosis, S. aureus, E. coli and K. pneumoniae.
Global phylogenetic analyses of Shigella dysenteriae isolates uncover the transcontinental transmission events and evolution of antibiotic resistance behind the major dysentery epidemics in the modern era.
Influenza A virus polymerase has a β-hairpin in the thumb subdomain, which is shown to be essential for the initiation of viral replication, but auxiliary for other replicative steps and viral transcription.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have traditionally been considered an ancient asexual lineage. Comparative genomic analyses of Rhizophagus irregularis provides evidence of sexual reproduction in these fungi.
A host SHP1 phosphatase dephosphorylates and antagonizes the function of the Helicobacter pylori virulence factor CagA. EBV co-infection dampens SHP1 expression, leading to CagA hypervirulence.
Interactions amongst Bacillus subtilis cells in a defined spatial environment are sufficient to enable the formation of self-organized patches that allow survival at cell densities otherwise too low to sustain growth.
Evolution of high levels of multidrug tolerance in E. coli occurs rapidly via single point mutations and adapts to drug treatment frequency. Conversely reversion in the absence of antibiotic treatment is slow and only partially effective.
Antibiotic therapy has varying effects on the species richness of the preterm infant gut microbiota, but can lead to a dominance of multi-drug resistant species and an enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes.
Light sensing in Aspergillus nidulans is shown to depend on the SakA (HogA) pathway, known to be crucial for osmosensing and now revealed as a hub for environmental signal integration in fungi.
Rapid variation in the phytoplankton and bacterioplankton communities of a spring bloom provides new insights into the biological and physical parameters affecting plankton succession.